The Aincrad Chronicles
by Waywards Fanfictions
Summary: Follow the adventures of a group of unlikely companions as they find themselves trapped in the death game that is Sword Art Online. This story is focused on OC's made by my friends and I, we will be adding to the story every week in an episodic way.
1. Chapter 1

Rain fell from the sky, cold and wet. The small puddles of water splashed on Ravinia's boots as he trudged towards the inn. The wind and rain had soaked through his clothes, and his long hair lay plastered over his face. The smell of strong beverages and cheap food assailed his senses, and a small smile graced his lips as he inhaled deeply.

Ahead of him was a large, run-down inn called the Leaky Bucket. It was run completely by NPC's, and wasn't notable or unique in any way other then the way it seemed to be worn down and dilapidated. Ravinia walked up a small path that veered sharply off of the main road, and came face to face with an old friend.

"Took you long enough." Aethleid said from his perch by the railing of the inn. "Everyone else is inside waiting."

"Good." Ravinia said, and drew a large coin purse from his inventory. "Lets get this started."

The two of them ascended the stairs past a large wooden verandiah that players occasionally used to hang out at among friends. Ravinia rolled up his sleeves and pushed through the heavy oak doors of the establishment.

"Took you long enough!" Said Oxel, from his seat by the fire.

A long table had been drug in front of the fire, and at it sat the members of the (not yet official) guild that Ravinia was trying to start. Two players were already seated, and two chairs were left open for the late arrivals.

"That's what I said." Aethleid took his seat, back to the wall."

Ravinia slid into his own spot, between Harp and Oxel. He reached into his jacket once again, and set the coin purse on the table.

"Look. I know we're all sick of eating bread. We aren't moving up as fast as I thought we would, and it sucks, I know." Ravinia untied the purse's draw strings and began to withdraw large handfuls of gold.

"But I have a plan." Harp said, mocking Ravinia's usual catch phrase.

Everybody sitting at the table moved in closer.

"We've been trying to scrap together coins from farming field mobs. Sure, it works in the long run. But we need some hard cash now. Here is how we are going to get it."

Ravinia opened up his menu, and scrolled through the tabs until an archive detailing common goods from the market sprung into view. He spread the digital screen out over the table, and highlighted a particular item.

Pork.

"What are we looking at?" Aethleid said, leaning low over the graph.

"Total sales for all pork products, right?" Oxel said, reaching out and pushing Aethleid away from the graph by his forehead to see better.

"Exactly. All of the good food is made by NPC's, and its really expensive. People still buy it though. Hell, I know what i'd do for a hot meal after a day of grinding. But a player could make the exact same food at better quality, and sell it for less." Ravinia said, collapsing the menu to pull up a map of the fields.

"We already have a lot of pork from grinding, but how are we supposed to cook such a large amount of food?" Harp said.

"We need a kitchen." Oxel said.

"We need cash." Aethleid added.

Ravinia let one of his rare smiles break through his calm exterior.

"And here it is." He dropped the coins he had amassed onto the table. "This is everything I've saved from our last quests. I'm going to use it to buy this inn."

The plan held a certain allure, and the whole group was in good spirits. They drank cheap wine and toasted bread over the fire while Ravinia worked out the details with the NPC innkeeper. Less then an hour later, Ravinia walked back to the table with a contract, signing over the deed to the Leaky Bucket.

"What should we name it?" He asked.

"Pile of crap?" Harp helpfully suggested.

"Ravens Cash Cow?" Oxel added.

"Don't even bother looking at me." Said Aethleid.

"So its decided." Ravinia shook his head in mock sadness, then stood enthusiastically. "We'll call it the Laughing Dragon Inn."

Since he now owned them, he brought out several mugs of the Inns best cider.

"To us!" Ravinia called, raising his own mug high.

"To us!" The others echoed, clanking drinks together and drinking everything that didn't spill on the table.

Tomorrow was going to be a busy day.


	2. Chapter 2

The party rose early the next morning, ready to get after the grind that would make them rich.

"We each need to take different jobs." Ravinia said from the railing of the verandah. "Ill take one person and hunt some boar."

Aethleid immediately stepped forward as a volunteer. "I'll go."

"Somebody else needs to get the Inn ready for business."

"That's my kind of thing!" Harp unslung her pack and started bringing out tools.

"Have some gold for supplies." Ravinia signed inwardly at the prospect of being next to completely broke.

"Alright. Oxel, that leaves you. I need you to help Harp get this place running. She cleans, you fix."

"Aye aye captain.." Oxel said, obviously displeased with the prospect of hard work.

"We'll head out now, and meet back up at eight. Hopefully we can get this plan off the ground by tomorrow."

The players departed to see to the different tasks. Ravinia and Aethleid walked a short distance to the outer gate. They pushed past countless players and NPC's. With a game populated by ten thousand people, you had to expect a few crowded streets.

"Do you seriously think this will work?" Aethleid asked.

"Be awkward as hell if it does." Raven answered.

They descended a large hill that looked over thousands of acres of lush, verdant plains, densely forested hills, and gently flowing rivers. Everything the eye could see was framed by snow capped mountains, tinted blue with distance. Though it was still morning, a few hundred players could be seen apelunking.

"Usual spot Raven?" Aethleid asked, already walking towards one of the easier spots.

"Not today man." Ravinia withdrew his spear and broke away from the road, heading towards a spot famous for spawning herds of wild boar twice a day.

"Same plan asusual?" Aeth asked.

"Same plan. I'll hold them down with the spear, you flank them."

Half an hours walk brought them to the spawn point. They could already hear the snorting and pawimg of the pigs. Aethleid pointed to the crest of the hill, and they crawled towards it, low to avoid detection.

Aethleid crawled a bit away from his friend. As he did so, Raven took an apple and tied a string to it. He rolled it over the edge of the hill, and held on tight, spear ready in his right hand. It wasn't long before the two of them heard the sound of a hungry boar coming for the apple. He slowly pulled on the strong, dragging the easy snack closer and closer to where he lay hidden.

At last the boar created the hill, it's hide bristling with anticipation for a meal it would never get to enjoy. Ravinia lunged with the spear, catching it in the chest. He rose to one knee, driving the spear further into the creatures chest. The swine began to screech like mad, and Aethleid ran up from the side, his broadsword held high.

His charge stopped in front of the boar. He hefted his sword into the striking position for the sword skill [Slant] which caused his blade to shine bright blue.

"Hrah!" He brought the sword down on the back of the boars head in a diagonal slice that caused it to explode, then dissipate into tiny pixilated shards.

"Perfect." Ravinia stood and collected the meat. "On to the next."

Down the rise was the rest of the small herd. About three or four of the pigs were milling about. They had not noticed the scuffle at the top of the hill.

"How do you want to do this Rav'?" Aethleid flicked his sword through the air to get the blood off of it. "They are too far away to lure up here."

"Think we could take them?" Ravinia asked.

"I know we could." Aethleid said.

Ravinia thought about it for a moment, then shrugged. "What's the worst that could happen?"

The two of them chuckled for a moment and began to start down the hill, but not before Ravinia knocked on the wooden trunk of a tree to dispel any possible Jinx's. It didn't take long for one of the larger females to notice them. The sow bleated out a warning that instantly alerted the two males. Without a seconds hesitation, the first one launched forward off of its muscular hindquarters, charging directly towards Aeth.

"Nope." Ravinia sidestepped into the path of the mob and dropped to one knee, bringing the deadly point of the spear to bear. Acting as the instrument of its own demise, the massive pig impaled itself on the barbed spear.

"Three cheers for free XP!" Ravinia called over his shoulder to his friend as pixels blew away with the wind.

"Lookout dumbass!"

The sow had charged a second after the first pig, and it crashed into Ravinias side with a meaty 'RUUURGH!' Ravinia tumbled head over heels, his spear falling from his reach. The soft warm glow of a [Horizontal] illuminated the hillside as Aethleids iron sword swung through the air and sliced through the side of the sow. The creature reared back in surprise, and fixed Aethleid with a look of pure hatred. Caught in the cooldown for his move, he too was caught by the rush of the creature. It's massive head drove straight into his gut and he fell back on his ass.

Luckily for him, Ravinia had brought his hunting dagger on the trip. With no skills unlocked for it yet, he simply flung himself through the air and landed on the back of the beast. He brought the dagger down into its neck, yelling "Vertical! Vertical!" sarcastically as he stabbed the poor thing to death. Sure enough, it too dissipated, leaving behind only meat and experience to be shared between the two of them.

Aethleid rose to his feet, and they advanced on the last boar. It had held its ground and was watching them from fifteen feet away. Needless to say, the two of them made short work of it.

The grinding continued late into the day. By the end of it, the two of them had reached level six. With packs weighed down by hundreds of choice cuts of pork, they made for the entrance of the city, mopping up the leftovers of the field mobs while a bit of daylight remained. They passed dozens of smaller bands of players, trading friendly greetings and advice on mob spawning.

The mountains far to the west cradled the sun as it drifted out of sight, repainting the world a warm shade of gold-red. After passing under the massive gates of the City, the Laughing Dragon was only a few minutes walk. The second street on the left led them straight up to the inn, which was hardly recognizable.

The cracked and weakened boards had been completely replaced. The entire exterior of the building had been totally remodeled and stripped of its cracked and faded paint, leaving behind only solid planks of oak wood. The doorway and railing around the verandah had been painted a shade of red that perfectly matched the sign that hang from the awning.

**~The Laughing Dragon Inn~**

_**All players welcome! Come  
inside and enjoy a flagon.  
You'll never leave hungry  
if you spend a night at  
the Laughing Dragon!**_

The front door barged open, and Oxel stumbled out, carrying one of the smaller tables.

"Oh! Hey! I wasn't expecting you guys back until eight!" he said, setting the table down next to a set of chairs.

"We hit our quota early!" Aethleid said happily, popping his neck.

"We want to try and get some of this cooked up, do you have the kitchen ready?" Rav' asked.

"Of course, it was the first thing we did. Come on, i'll show you!"

Oxel led them back inside. The main dining room was mostly empty. All of the tables had been taken outside, repainted, then brought back inside and pushed back against the wall. Chairs were stacked up together, and a decades worth of dust had been swept into a trash bin at the back of the room.

"It looks great. I honestly don't know what to say." Ravinia said, eyes open wide.

"This is just the start, come on."


	3. Chapter 3

Knowing what to expect, Aethleid made easier progress then he had originally. Fueled by determination, his sword blazed a path better then any torch ever could. Though battered and tired from clearing and looting room after room of undead, Aethleid was nearly at the final chamber. Where were the kids? Fearing the worst, Aethleid stepped cautiously into the great chamber. The second his feet touched the floor of the room, Aethleid heard a noise directly behind him.

"Hrah!" He roared as he spun to the side, attacking with blinding speed.

"CLANG!" His sword was intercepted midstrike.

"See. This is why we don't hang out." Ravinia said, lowering his shield to reveal his grinning face.

The two friends stood facing each-other for a moment, then Aethleid chuckled and clasped him on the arm.

"Because you always show up late to the party, you mean?"

Ravinia looked Aethleid up and down.

"Aren't you a little under-dressed for this particular party, my friend?" he asked, gesturing to his own heavy armor.

"Actually, you were supposed to bring a swim suit." Aethleid said, shaking his head.

Ravinia's reply was drowned out by a heavy draft that whipped down the corridor, powerful enough to make his cloak billow up around him.

"You always take me to such nice places." Ravinia quipped, raising his sword-staff.

"Quiet." Aethleid said, and they advanced across the chamber together, on alert for the slightest hint of danger. Ravinia felt a tile shift under his foot, and a mechanism whirred to life somewhere in the chamber.

"DIVE!" Ravinia yelled and they both rolled to the side. Directly beneath them the floor exploded outward and sent them careening madly through the air. Ravinia peered through the cloud of dust, and saw something that simply did not make sense. A horrific creature had scuttled out of the rift in the ground. Before what he was seeing even registered in his mind, the smell hit him. Rotting flesh assaulted his senses like a wave, and his body retreated of it's own accord, kneeling behind his tower shield as the beast attached itself to the cieling.

Several rotting corpses had been sewn together at the waist, with random body parts protruding to make up revulting centipede like appendages. The creature had no discernable end or begining, it simply writhed and clacked towards him, bones snapping and popping out of place with every movement. As the.. thing snarled out a challenge from a dozen disheviled heads, a health bar and name appeared above it.

**The Punished One. **

"Move!" Aethleid yelled from across the chamber, and Ravinia leaped to the side. He came within inches of a cluster of it's heads, and they snapped at him from freakishly long necks. Attempting to catch it off guard, Ravinia raised his shield and struck out with his sword-staff, whirling it in a broad arc that cut through several layers of tattered sinew. The health bar didn't flinch. With startling ferocity, the boss whipped it's body around and struck Ravinia with the full force of it's blood-matted carapace. Tower shield or no, Ravinia went flying.

"Swiiiiiiiitch!" Ravinia cried as he hurtled through the air.

Aethleid clenched his shaking hand around Gladius, and charged in to buy his friend some time. Gladius flashed through the air in a flurry of movement, hacking off limb after limb. The boss shivered and launched a barrage of attacks at Jacob, striking at him with each of its putrid appendages. Aethleid backed away quickly, but lost his footing and tumbled into a narrow crevice. The boss was on him in an instant, straining and surging against the gap with all it's might, trying to get at the player who lay trapped beneath. With Gladius clutched in both hands, Aethleid thrusted it directly through the gaping mouth of a head and caused part of it's body to split apart, bursting at the seems.

That took a chunk off the health bar. Aethleid cried out, "The heads! Go for the heads!"

And that's just what Ravinia did. He sprinted and leapt through the air, whirling his weapon like a dirvish as he flew. He struck off one head, then another, and was forced to stand his ground atop its back. He pirhouetted to the left and drove the hardened steel of his tower shield directly into an outstretched head, smashing it beyond all recognition. The creature screamed and controrted in on itself, forcing Ravinia to dive off of it. It chased after him in a reckless fury, leaving Aethleid free to engage it from it's now exposed flank.

Beneath the might strokes of Gladius, congealed blood ran in rivers, splashing onto the ground in sheets. Caught between two powerful players, it's limbs twitched like mad, snapping inneffectually at the air around them. Though it tried, it couldn't get out of reach of the cutting, burning blades. The two of them sliced away at it until it slumped to the ground, unable to support itself. It strained in every direction at once, pulling itself apart. As it underwent it's death animation, Ravinia mindlessly let off his guard. Though the creature couldn't escape, it was still capable of enacting it's final revenge. A single talon of bone shuddered and ripped free of it's holdings, and scythed through the air towards Ravinia's exposed neck.

It never reached him. Gladius moved through the air with a speed Aethleid had never dreamed of, landing the final hit on the dying monster. It rippled and pulsed one last time, then exploded into pixilated chunks of color.

**CONGRATULATIONS!**

**Experiance: 14876**

**Gold: 15476**

**Items: **

**(Last Attacking Bonus) Bloodsurge.**

**(Bonus Rare Item) Shadowrend.**

**(Distribute to party?)**

"I know you like to cook what you kill Aethleid, but I swear to God, I am not eating that." Ravinia said from his perch atop a nearby mound of rubble.

"Wait holy shit, what is that?" Ravinia asked as he descended to walk up to Aethleid.

Bloodsurge rested Aethleids hands. The jet black blade eminated fear in the same way the boss had when it first emerged. Without the smell, thankfully. The massive double bladed sword reached defiantly for the roof of the chamber, as if it was in a rush to leave the dungeon and set about causing mayhem elsewhere.

"Here." Aethleid tossed Ravinia the blade. When he caught it, he realised the handle and pomel were made of bone from the section of a spinal cord.

"Dude, you can't just give this to me, this sword is-" Ravinia went quiet as Aethleid equipped Shadowrend.

If Bloodsurges midnight black coating was darkness, then Shadowrend was a darkness that cast a shadow on darkness itself. The metal was a black so pure that it reflected the area around it as clearly as a mirror, polished to perfection. Little motes of light danced off the edge of the slender blade, and Aethleid spun it sidehanded in a quick flurry that cleared the air around them of dust. But Aethleid's eyes were on the real prize. Across the hall, a small door opened and two kids stumbled out, supporting each-other as they made there way towards the other two players.

"You came all this way for kids?" Ravinia said in disbelief.

Wordlessly, Aethleid nodded and went to them.

"Hey, hey. You're safe now." Aethleid said to the trembling kids. "Your brother Alex sent me, I need you to take my hand okay?"

The youngest kid, he couldn't have been older then nine, simply collapsed against Aethleids chest and began to cry. The other one looked too tired to even understand what was going on. Aethleid lifted one onto his shoulders, took the others hand, and drew out a teleportation crystal.

"Town of Beginings!" Aethleid shouted, and they disapeared in a flash of light.

Alone in the chamber, Ravinia smiled and said quietly to himself. "Way to spend your birthday Aeth."


End file.
